The Whitestone forces were formed out of desperation in the wake of the Dragonarmies sweeping across Ansalon. Let’s take a closer look at what makes up the Whitestone Forces. Buy War of the Lance: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/3164/War-of-the-Lance-35?affiliate_id=50797
Transcript
Cold Open
The Whitestone forces are rife with mistrust, fear and bigotry. Without Gunthar and Laurana, I don’t think they ever would have fought together.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about The Whitestone Forces. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. I am referencing the War of the Lance sourcebook primarily for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below.
Discussion
When I think of the Whitestone Forces I think of Tasslehoff destroying the Dragon Orb in order to quell the riotous dissent between the supposedly good people of Krynn. The war which had a firm grip on Ansalon had met paltry resistance primarily because these good people of Krynn were full of bigotry and counterproductive pride. Even amongst their own houses the free peoples of Krynn were anything but unified. The Knights of Solamnia were wracked by political infighting. The elves and dwarves were more focused on fighting on their own home fronts than supporting others. But this isn’t to say nothing good came out of it. First of all, Theros Ironfeld provided the forces with the Dragonlances. Secondly, after the Battle of the High Clerist’s tower, Sturm Brightblade’s sacrifice provided the knighthood with an aspirational ideal, and if it weren’t for Gunthar Uth Wistan seeing the potential greatness in Lauralanthalasa Kanan, the daughter of the Qualinesti Speaker of the Sun, the forces would arguably not have been able to rally behind another leaders banner.
You really can boil down the leadership of the Whitestone Forces to Lord Gunthar Uth Wistan, Grand Master of the Knights of Solamnia, and Laurana, the Golden General. Beneath them in the chain of command you have the army’s commanders. The Solamnic Knights refer to their commanders as the Warrior Lord, usually a Knight of the Rose. The elven armies have two commanders, the Speaker of the Sun being the ultimate commander, but he leaves many daily decisions to the Lord House Warrior. The dwarven armies have the High King of the Kayolin, and the Kender commander is Kronin Thistleknott. Beneath the army commanders are the brigade commanders. The Solamnic armies feature three brigades, one of each of their orders, called Lord Knights. The elven armies also feature three brigades, one for House Warrior, one for House Rider and one for House Archer. The dwarven armies are divided into five brigades, but they only have four brigade commanders leading them, as the gully dwarves have no real leaders. Beneath the brigade commanders are the company commanders. The Gully Dwarves are missing these as well, however this is more than made up for by the Kender forces, as they have three times the company commanders of any other army, just to keep the kender in line! Under the company commanders are the sergeants, who command squads of ten to fifteen soldiers. Again, the Kender are the exception as their sergeants are assigned to no more than three to five soldiers each! Not surprisingly, the Gully dwarves have no sergeants either.
The Solamnic army makes up the backbone of the Whitestone forces due to their training and effective cavalry. With the combination of Dragonlances and good dragons joining the war in 352 Alt Cataclius, the Solamnics led the seachange in the war. Again, the Solamnic forces are led by Lord Gunthar, who was recently appointed Grand Master of the Knighthood. Surprisingly there are only sixty-three knights in their forces. The rest of the soldiers were made up of squires and mercenaries led by those knights. Roughly a third of their knights were mounted on dragonback for the remainder of the war.
The elven army was promised by Solostaran, the Qualinesti Speaker of the Sun, though he didn’t send any of those forces until after the battle of the High Clerist’s Tower. Some Silvanesti joined their cousins with the disapproval of Silvanesti leadership. The Elven forces are integrated into the Solamnics plans by Laurana, but are directly led by Amrilas Sirtirinan. The vast majority of Silvanesti have turned their attention to their own homeland. The difference in battle styles is evident between the Solamnic and elven forces. Though a few elves ride dragonback, most fly griffons in scouting or skirmishing roles.
The Dwarven army are notably absent from the Whitestone Forces until after the Battle of the High Clerist’s Tower as well. Even then only the dwarves of Kayolin are present, acting as defense from southern incursion of the Solamnics battlelines and assisting refugees from the north. The dwarves of Thorbardin are defending their own kingdom. Dwarves are masters of fortification, preferring to let the enemy come to them. The Aghar dwarves insist on assisting to everyone’s dismay, and though they are not effective strategists, they do have passion and are relatively effective in their mob tactics.
The Kender Armies features six brigades stationed in Hylo on Northern Ergoth. Many Kender freely invite themselves to other units, but are more often thrown out of them. The remainder of the Whitestone Forces are composed of paid mercenary companies or volunteers. Not all share the high ideals of Whitestone but see the Dragonarmies are clearly a poorer choice when it comes time to choose a side. Some of the units are led by Whitestone Forces and some arrived with their own leadership. It costs a lot to maintain the mercenary armies, but the Whitestone and specifically the Solamnic forces are forced to relearn how to protect their supply lines after relying on magic users in ages past.
There are also Rebel organizations that attempt to bring communities against the Dragonarmy occupiers and generally make life difficult for them. Flotsam features a rebel group of twelve bandits-turned-revolutionaries and a small kagonesti elf circle led by Silver Fox’s lieutenant, Erewan. Even Neraka has a resistance movement called Hidden Light. They also operate out of Jelek. At their height, they hosted one hundred and forty-nine members, led by Talent Orren who was assisted by a large barbarian named Maelstrom and Lute the Pawnbroker. They do not always agree on why or how they are operating against the Dark Queen’s forces, but they all swore an oath against them.
Though the Whitestone forces were hindered by their histories as disparate armies, and cultures, in the end they all recognised the existential threat the Dark Queen and her Dragonarmies posed to Krynn, and I suppose better late than never could hold true to their support. I would personally make the argument that the war would have been won infinitely earlier if each of the armies in the Whitestone forces p ut aside their petty squabbles and worked together. This cultural hatred and distrust would last well into the Summer of Chaos long after the war ended proving beyond a shadow of doubt, to me at least, the people of Krynn are just as idiotic as our own disperate human nations. I suppose this realization should make me feel better about our own ignorance and self sabotage by familiarity if for no other reason, but it doesn’t.
Outro
And that is all I have to say about the Whitestone Forces. I hope you enjoyed the information. What other details would you like to learn about the Whitestone Forces? Do you have a favorite Whitestone Army? And finally, if the denizens of Krynn all got along in some utopian future, would it ruin Dragonlance as a campaign setting? Leave a comment below.
I would like to take a moment and remind you to subscribe to this YouTube channel, ring the bell to get notified about upcoming videos and click the like button. This all goes to help other Dragonlance fans learn about this channel and its content. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:
No. Only dreamers fight to the death. There are only a handful of such fools in the world. All others surrender and hope they will not be beaten too often by their new masters.
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